Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority for going entirely smoke-free. Of course, smoking has only been allowed outside the Hay River hospital for quite a while now, but it was time to take the next step. Let’s not forget that the main goal here is to help people quit smoking altogether and greatly reduce the risk of cancer, lung disease and heart disease.
There is a lot of help and support available to anyone who wants to quit smoking or kick their tobacco addictions. For starters, telephone counselling and personal support is available through the NWT Quitline. Doctors and nurses can help you get a prescription for anti-smoking aids of various types: the nicotine patch, gum, and even two medications, Zyban and Champix. The cost is covered for these prescriptions for all NWT residents.
I highly encourage anyone who’s thinking about quitting, to take the big step. Don’t forget, it’s also a step for all the young people who look up to you. It is the most important thing you can do to prevent our youth from taking up this terrible and addictive habit.
I welcome the news that the Health department is re-launching the Don’t Be a Butthead Campaign after Christmas. I hope that all of our young people will pledge to go smoke-free each year. There is strength in numbers and I have often marvelled at the strength of our next generation.
We have a long way to go and we have to keep our efforts and awareness of tobacco addiction high. The smoking rate in the Northwest Territories is more than twice the national average, and as of three years ago, 36 percent of our entire population over the age of 15 was a smoker. We have to kick the habit. I hope the next numbers we see and the next generation will be healthier.
Since I have a few minutes left on the clock, I would also like to just mention some of my own observations about smoking.
Have you ever sat outside a department store or Canadian Tire or someplace and watched the smokers walking in there, flicking their cigarettes on the ground? It’s just something that’s curious to me. If smokers think their butts are invisible, if they think someone else is going to pick them up, if they think they’re biodegradable, if they think it’s okay to take their ashtray and dump it on a parking lot while they’re sitting in their car waiting for somebody, so you come and you see these little mountains of cigarette butts everywhere; it’s just curious to me. It’s littering. It’s disgusting. I’ve always been puzzled by that.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
